Brent Pierson standing for Southern Ward WCC

Talofa, Buenas Dias and Hello. I
would like to announce that I am standing for the southern
ward for council. Why am I standing ? Because I beleive
Wellington is a wonderful city to live in and that with good
leadership it can only get better. I believe that putting
people's needs first is at the heart of local governance -
that openness and true consultation is the goal of council.
As a councillor I would bring to the table a strong belief
in democracy and the ability to work with others to achieve
positive outcomes. I have a passion for this city in which I
have lived most of my life. Born in Porirua, grew up in
Strathmore and Naenae. I am married and my daughter goings
to Island bay school. Have lived and worked in Sweden,
Holland, Australia, Texas and Chile. I speak Spanish and am
a member of the Spanish & Latin American Club here in
Wellington.

This is the first time I have stood for
council and I take great pride in doing so, but it is not
the first time I have stood for public office. I stood as a
candidate in Rongotai, at the last general election, being
the highest polling candidate from Rongotai who did not make
it to Parliament.

My beliefs

I strongly support
libraries, becuase books open the door to a brighter future
and libraries are at the centre of any community.

I
strongly support real bike lanes, not the unsafe, paint on
the road ones that we presently have. Bikes should as much
as possible be separated from cars. Making this form of
transport safer is a key project of mine.

As for public
transport, I have over 20 years experience in public
transport in Wellington.We need more bus only lanes, so trip
times are reduced. Lower fares to get people out of cars and
into buses.

Also I support the living wage concept,
council must show leadership and this is an important issue
to help lift wage levels and position Wellington as a high
wage city. If the Warehouse can do it, then so can
we.

Economic development for the Wellington region is a
must. Mr Key may think we are a dying city, but I do not. We
can do better and growing the regional economy should be the
number one priority. More and higher paying jobs is the way
to go.

As for council housing! The council needs to
modernise and earthquake proof all the housing stock that
they own. Review over time the needs of its tenants to best
match rentals with tenants. With rent based on a % of
income.

I am opposed to the selling of council assets, as
this is not the direction in which we should be going. More
investment in key area's is needed, not less.

I do not
support the basin flyover as the plan stands, it will
become an eyesaw and negatively effect the basin, which is
so loved by all Wellingtonians, more planning and thought
needs to be put into this.

As for amalgamation of
councils, who is driving this? The people? rate payers?
residents? No!! Powerful people wanting more power. Having
one large council is no guarantee than things will be
better, but in the process we lose our voice, drowned out by
so many voices wanting to be heard. Yes councils in the
region need to work together and share services in area's
were savings can be made. bigger is not always better.
Wellington has a wonderful future, together we can only make
it better.

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To all intents and purposes, access by New Zealanders to the Privy Council has now been closed. Yet the number of times in recent years when the Privy Council has quashed the findings of New Zealand courts has demonstrated that we are regularly(a) jailing the wrong person or(b) arriving at guilty verdicts on grounds sufficiently flawed as to raise serious doubts that a miscarriage of justice has occurred. More>>

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